November 19: World Toilet Day

World Toilet Day is celebrated every year on November 19, and this year’s main focus will be toilets and jobs. It will focus on how life and work environments get affected by sanitation. Popular British band Coldplay along with artists like Jay Z, Demi Lovato and Bollywood celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and many more will promote World Toilet Day at Global Citizen Festival in Mumbai.

According to the UN, around 2.4 billion people worldwide don’t have an access to toilets. This affects their health and their family’s health by making them prone to various ailments.

Millions of people die because of lack of hygiene and sanitation which majorly comprise of children.

The theme in 2016: Toilets and jobs. This year’s theme focuses on how sanitation, or the lack of it, can impact on livelihoods.

Toilets play a crucial role in creating a strong economy, as well as improving health and protecting people’s safety and dignity, particularly women’s and girls’.

A lack of toilets at work and at home has severe impacts upon businesses through problems in the workforce: poor health, absenteeism, attrition, reduced concentration, exhaustion, and decreased productivity.

Loss of productivity due to illnesses caused by lack of sanitation and poor hygiene practices is estimated to cost many countries up to 5% of GDP.